Rollercoaster

Good news, bad news, good news, bad news.... up and down I go. I'm not tall enough to ride a roller coaster, unless Grandma buys 6-inch flip-flops like she did for Mommy at Six Flags, but I think I understand the sensation and its lure... also, I sort of have my own roller coaster. It's not always fun, like today, but everyone seems so thrilled to ride with me!

The latest roller coaster news is a bit of a dip. It feels deeper than it should because I was up so high from the latest news about maintaining Stage 3. This morning, my doctors re-categorized me as Stage 4, and I'm now high-risk as opposed to intermediate. My passengers seem to feel the news more than me, especially Daddy because he sits with me in the VERY back of the roller coaster. For those of you without 6-inch flip-flips to ride a roller coaster, the back of a roller coaster usually descends from a peak much more quickly than the front. This means Daddy experiences all the valleys of my roller coaster trek more than anyone else despite the fact all we want to do is get off the coaster and go for cotton candy, funnel cake, turkey leg, fried oreos.... maybe all of them? No no, he's a good Daddy. He'd frown, shake his head and say something like, "Those are bad for you. Now pick 3 of the 4 and don't tell Mommy." YUM!

So how'd my coaster get to this precipitous drop? *sigh* When the doctors originally started me on this chemo-thing they were expecting certain signs of its effectiveness but unfortunately those signs were either not prominent enough or non-existent. When they first started it, my Daddy thought the chemo looked like Tequila. Anyways, I guess they forgot the worm and now my chemo dosage and schedule have changed. I just hope they include the worm this time, or at least Jameson, Daddy knows I'm Irish.

I'm still a little hazy on the treatment and scheduling but the way I understand it....

My total treatment will be 9 months, this includes chemo and two bone marrow transfusions. I was worried about a bone marrow match but the doctors will use samples of my own bone marrow for the transfusions. I asked about running out of samples but apparently the stuff regenerates so no need to worry. Afterwards, they hope to remove this unwelcome tissue from my tummy.

*WHOA* Sorry, even though the coaster is on its way down we sometimes have lil' upswings. The old dosage of chemo is finally leaving my body and allowing me to recover. I am talking more which is nice... don't get me wrong, this "interweb" place is neat and all but I'm much more interactive and WAYYYY better looking in person.

HOWEVER.... I'm not quite as good looking as this other guy I saw recently. I couldn't see him at first with all the blankets and stuff, but I asked, "What's that?" and I was informed "that" was my brother, Reilly! I don't know much about my little brother; he is stubborn about eating (gets that from Mommy), he's smaller than me and I could totally take him, he gets to go home and he's doing quite well. *WHOA* Yeah, that was another upswing.

Up or down, I hope you continue riding with me... but you can't have my Daddy's seat.